Teachers are burning out – but is the government listening?

Meanwhile, in the background, reforms to special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) education, started under Starmer's premiership, continue at a glacial pace. And rumours swirl about the government giving EU students discounted tuition fees - a move which some fear could plunge universities into financial ruin.

So when Lucy Powell appeared before the Education Select Committee last week for the first time since her appointment, we had plenty to discuss. One issue I wanted to focus on, in particular, was teacher retention.

Last September, I surveyed teachers across the country about their thoughts on the profession. Being Schools Spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, I am, of course, aware of the deep challenges school face, but even so, I was shocked by what came back.

The results painted a picture of a sector ridden by stress, with teachers overworked and under-supported, bogged down in unnecessary bureaucracy which keeps them out of the classroom.

Almost half said they were considering leaving teaching in the next five years, while 10% plan to spend less than a year in the job. More than three quarters said they felt frequently or constantly burnt out, with pastoral care, lesson preparation, admin, and much more keeping teachers at work for an average of 54 hours a week.

I wanted to know the government’s plans for addressing the above. The challenge though is that when you raise this issue with Ministers, they respond with a barrage of statistics.

I know how infuriating teachers find this. Such an approach dismisses the emotional turmoil underpinning the issue and ignores the fact that hiring new teachers is not a replacement for retaining experienced professionals who understand their school and pupils.

Though I did ask the Secretary to avoid getting bogged down in figures and targets, she couldn’t resist leaning on her statistics. According to her, the leaver rate now is at the lowest rate in any year outside of the pandemic and the government is exceeding its target for STEM subjects.

This is, of course, welcome news, but I remain concerned that the government is ignoring the real, substantive reasons why teachers are leaving the profession - workload and burnout to name just a couple.

What worries me is that the in-tray for teachers is only set to grow. Along with the SEND reforms, which place a greater emphasis on inclusion, the government wants schools to embrace technical education. While this is a laudable aim, it will undoubtedly increase teacher workload and has repercussions for further education (FE) colleges.

FE colleges are desperately underfunded. Teachers are paid less than those working in schools, and it is already hard to recruit the staff needed to provide the vocational and technical courses the government wishes to expand.

Quite where the workforce is going to come from to expand vocational and technical courses into schools is a mystery.

Given this, one would expect any expansion in technical education to be done in conjunction with colleges and would involve some kind of funding uplift for FE to keep the sector stable. When I put this to the Education Secretary, she was unmoved. Though she agreed with my points, she said the challenges in further education are not ‘just a funding issue’. They may not be, but that's a big part of the puzzle that must be addressed.

Since taking the post, the Education Secretary has dedicated plenty of column inches to disparaging the current schooling system, the curriculum and Ofsted inspections, and promising reform. I welcome much of this, but I’m yet to see anything that matches the ambition. As with much of the Burnham Government so far, Ministers talk enthusiastically of change but we've yet to see anything concrete to back it up.